Elio

Pleasant and likable coming-of-ager in the now traditional mould of a Pixar animation borrows liberally from ghosts of genre’s past (there’s a decent bit of cribbing from CLOSE ENCOUNTERS at some key junctures). It’s a smooth ride, with solid anchor work from Saldana, and some hammy villainy from Garrett, distinguishing the voice cast. It just feels like the previously revolutionary sincere and emotional Pixar efforts have now settled into a well-worn pattern and while I can’t really fault this for what it is trying to do, the overt imitation leaves the film with a hollow feeling to it.